Frustration boiled over for the Cubs and Anthony Rizzo on the final pitch of a hot, humid and disappointing four-game series against the San Diego Padres. The game ended on a called strike. That didn’t sit very well with Rizzo and Maddon.  

Rizzo and his manager, Joe Maddon, were predictably aggrieved by the botched call.

Via NBC Sports: 

“I think it’s well-documented that I talk to a lot of these umpires all the time and I have the utmost respect for every single one of them,” Rizzo said. “I feel like I know them on a personal basis just because long games, long season, talk to them at first. Feel like I have a great working relationship with pretty much the whole league.

“That being said, that call is unacceptable. He told me to look at it, I looked at it and he was wrong. And I would like for him to confirm that. That can’t happen. That can’t happen in the major leagues at Wrigley Field or any field.”

…

“You saw both sides,” Joe Maddon said. “You gotta play it straight right to the very end and I’m not accusing anybody of not. It’s egregiously a bad call. We can all see that.

This is the time of year where each and every game counts. You can’t afford to lose if you’re the Cubs, who are trying to hold off the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. Check out more below: